Sunday, May 31, 2009

The link may be considered "crude." Now if your from my kind of play group this kind of humor is standard fare but I do realize some people are easily offended and if you are please click to a more rated G blog post now. You've been warned...

Again, my apologies for it not being a direct link but this is what I found posted on my site.

Who is the culprit you ask?

From what I can tell it is the very hot blonde who is the mother of my son! Can you believe she kisses these lips with that sick, twisted sense of humor lumbering around in that sweet head of hers? I would have thought that since we gave each other our lives, our hearts, our very souls in wedded matrimony that I would have been able to trust her to just take the pictures of my stuff and leave it at that but noooooooooo she had to go and...

What's that?

Did I have anything to do with that?

Umm...

Ok, ok... so maybe I thought up the words but I swear she took the pic. This must have been what Adam felt like when God punked him out over Eve.

Just look at this one...

"Look honey their kissing!"

Sigh...

It reminds me of the time I let her pick my Mage Knight army. While my buddy had a coherent force I ended up with a "pretty" one.

Yeah I lost that game... badly.

So fellas this is proof you don't give out your blogger info to ANYONE! Not even your beloved wife/ girlfriend/ whatever you may have these days. They may bat their eyes, pout the lips, lean forward and (you get the idea *wink*) but stay strong my brothers! If you do...

Oh who am I kidding...

I'll eat the apple every time.

(Love ya baby! Thank you so much for always taking the pics for my site and making my minis look awesome. This blog would look like junk without you!)

Don't forget to look below for the real post for my Flames of War minis guys!

Saturday, May 30, 2009

I used The Army Painter on em for the shading work but I took a different approach to these miniatures...

I took my time with them.

Perhaps it's their size (a first for me at 15mm) but they took longer just by default. I looked into the Ospray book series, scoured the net and bought their codex (er Intelligence Handbook...) to get a good feel for the uniform. Unlike fantasy/ sci-fi, these guys are representing a force that actually existed. By way of a little history lesson the U.S. Paratrooper had three variations of the jump uniform before the war ended. Since Flames Of War seems preoccupied with mid to late war it made sense to paint them according to the M1943 late version of the G.I. diggs.

That means lots of olive drab.

Now I could have used the standard way TAP is supposed to be used... simple basecoat, dip, varnish, done. However with the olive drab color permeating most of the model I wanted to go for a level of detail I usually don't care to achieve. Seeing others FOW minis spoke volumes to the size of the mini dulling down the detail. Since the mini is so small and most historical uniforms are so single colored in nature the 15mm mini grouped with others like it on the stand can tend to look like un-detailed lumps moving across the battlefield. This fact is so much so that a lot of players forgo accuracy, sacrificing detail for a better, more brilliant look to the mini on the field (go watch TAP tutorials when he uses the splash technique with FOW minis and you'll see what I mean).

So I layered paint, using a darker green and dry brushing the OD green on. The webbing/ backpack was not strictly khaki but also had a "greenish" tint to it and benefited from the technique too. I shyed away from using to shiny a metal color since the weapons were either had a very, almost black color to the metal or the weapons were painted the predominate color of the forces vehicles. The end result made The Army Painters job look all the more spectacular. It seems the more work and detail you put into the mini before it's dipped helps to make the mini look that much better when it is dipped. While the product is designed to do alot with very minimal effort it goes the full nine the more detail you put on the figs. The Army Painter can't shade away the painters hand.

The really big departure from my norm for me here was the basing. Following my simplistic, assembly line approach to the hobby I treat bases like the rest of the mini. However when I saw the FOW picks on the bases they intrigued me. Using filler and a process that is "stupid simple" (for the record I'm coining that... I'll expect a nickel, no a quarter every time someone uses that phrase) I'm gonna blog about how I do em. When You look below I think you'll agree that they look awesome.

Go out and give historical minis a shot. Flames Of War is a great system. Kinda like 40k but backwards. Fact is if you've played one mini games you've played em all really.

Friday, May 29, 2009

I'm sorry it's not a direct link (that always gives me trouble) so you'll have to do some good 'ol fashioned copy and paste. Great looking paint jobs, conversions and Forge World minis to boot. I think were just see the tip of the iceberg with this fella.

Also I think I'm gonna do this more often when I get the chance. It seems to me From The Warp is a community. It's not just about my blog it's about everyones blog and if I can give a shout out to a great new blog and help that person get some followers and exposure than awesome. It breaks the heart to see someone have some excellent stuff of their site and have next to no one following it.

So from now on If I come across a blog that has great content that the whole community should see I'll be posting "The 25MM Warrior Check This Blog Out Follower Call." I hope it helps some get the attention we all want and hope we get.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

First off a very heartfelt thanks to everyone who came out and flexed their funny bone. They made us laugh, made us cry (we wont tell you who did that)and was a really good time to be apart of From The Warp.

You all deserve a big pat on the back.

But alas there can only be three who rise to the top. Only three that made my wife laugh the hardest and chuckle the longest. So here you have it, the finalists in The 25mm Warrior Funny Caption Contest are...

KEVINBlue: The perfect desert camouflage...

MASTER DARKSOL"They see me rollin... They hatin."

EEKReassigned to one of humanity's outer colonies, Thomas's first day on the new job was more eventful than he expected.

These are the three my wife thought were the cleverest and the funniest. Congratulation fellas!!!

Now here's the low down for the final...

Off to the right there on my sidebar is a poll. Go vote for your favorite one out of these three. The From The Warp Community will now pick the winner! The poll will be up for three days and voting will end on Wednesday morning at midnight. Everyone can vote only once (and yes the finalists themselves can vote too, wonder who they'll vote for...). When the poll closes whoever has the most votes will be the winner!!!

I ask that whoever does win that you blog about your victory on your site and also blog about receiving the prize in the mail.

So there you have it From The Warp. Who will be the first even winner of The 25MM Warrior Funny Caption Contest!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Wow the entries so far have been fantastic! Very, very funny stuff (can't wait for my wife to read em on Saturday!). If you haven't entered the contest yet cruise on over and read the post below for your chance to win a Death Korp Command Squad! If you have entered enter again! There is no limit to how many times you can post your entries. Maybe you've been thinking about what your gonna post. We're halfway done and it ends Saturday morning at midnight. The finalists will be posted in a blog and a poll done up for the community to vote.

The more the better!

Best of Luck!!!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Create a funny caption in the comments about the picture above. You can enter as many times as you like. Next Saturday my wife (yep that's right fellas MY WIFE!!!) will read all of them and pick the three most funny captions. After that I'll put up another blog listing the three finalists and then the community will vote on which one they think is the funniest!

So your task is two fold. Create a caption that will make not only your fellow gamers laugh but will make a NON GAMER laugh.

As way of an example think of "The Far Side" comics or ToyFares "Action Figure Theater" and go to town!

Now for the rules...

1. This contest is only for "From The Warp" and "Bell of Lost Souls" community members. If your not a member very sorry (you should become one anyway). If it comes out in the sauce a non member submitted a caption it will not count.

2. No making fun of other captions in submissions.

3 Keep it clean. This contest is in full compliance with the high standards set out in the "From the Warp" web site. If in doubt ask yourself "What Would Ron Do?"

Hopefully this will inspire someone else to shell out oodles of hard earned cash for extremely expensive miniatures (or you can just hawk em on ebay and get a pretty penny... makes no difference to me). This contest is for everyone regardless of where you are in the world. Where ever the winner is I will ship it him! (as long as shipping is under 20 bucks that is :)

So there you have it guys The First Ever The 25MM Warrior Funny Caption Contest!

Good Luck!!!

Friday, May 15, 2009

So I'm at work flipping through the Forge World catalog that came with the Death Korp Command Squad I just got and my mouth dropped open when I saw these guys. I didn't even know they were there. I was so blinded by the Death Korp that I think I missed em. Anyway I'm ditching the Death Korp idea and doing Elysians Drop Troops now.

Now being a Veteran Air Assault U.S. Army trooper myself these guys totally played into my sentiments. I know I did up the the poll about the Death Korp and one day I will do them but for now I've got to do these guys. When I decided to put up the poll where you guys decided for me to do the Guard I had the idea of a force with pin-up girls on them. Elysians are THE Imperal Guard force for that. With the release of the new Valkyrie... oh man I can't wait to slap pin up girls all over em :)

These is one problem though... I already have the Death Korp Command Squad. Now what am I to do? These guys are just to damn pretty (in a gritty kind of way) to throw into my mini closest only to be filed away under the "I'll get to you later" drawer. You guys have been so awesome with all your comments and help and I really appreciated everyone that came out to vote for the now ill fated Death Korp idea that I've decided to do a contest...

and the prize will be my Death Korp Command Squad.

I'll leave it at that for now while Opiewan and I hammer out the details, rules, hire a firing squad to deal with cheaters etc. I also got to get the idea over to Ron since I guess there is a blog around here that features contests and stuff.

The contest will be up on Saturday night. Holy geeze that's tomorrow night! I better get crackin and oh by the way, sharpen your wit everyone and dust off your funny bones...

Your gonna need it!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

I have a full proof method that is guaranteed (you read right GUARANTEED!) to have your miniatures shipped faster to you. As a matter of fact if you employ my full proof method chances are they will show up that day!

Here's what you do...

Complain.

That's it, just complain.

Now you have to have waited about two and a half weeks after you initially paid for your order but when you do it's certain to show up that day. Actually you need to contact the company and tell them how you've emailed them three times and how no one has responded (that is another step to The 25MM Warriors full proof method) and how your not happy with them. Also include a very pointed statement about how much money you were going to spend in future purchases. End the email with a threat of asking for a refund if the order does not show up according to The 25MM Warriors full proof method and go to sleep. When you wake up run out to your mailbox... your items that you have been waiting forever for will be there... GUARANTEED!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

I hate writing this because I think The Army Painter products are truly awesome but this past week we've been running into some snags.

I bought a can of white primer at a local game store this past weekend. Upon application of it on a poor unsuspecting space marine I noticed little white dots peppering the entire mini. It looked like snow and appeared raised. Gone was the expectation of a smooth coverage that I am used to with this product and expectation was replaced with a servant of the Emperor being covered with a primer that felt like sand paper when it dried.

That was the second time I used it.

The first time actually ruined one of my Flames of War US Paratrooper stands. As I sprayed the mini thick droplets sprayed out of the nozzle. I tried to work fast to clean the white off and I am sorry to report I wasn't successful. I just got word that the defense department has already sent letters out to the families of these brave soldiers informing them of the incident.

If that wasn't enough this morning I went to use my can of gray primer for some more Confederates and guess what??? The propellant inside the can got used up before all the primer was out of the can. Now I'm stuck with a quarter can of primer that I can't get out! That ever happen to anyone?

I wrote Neal at thewarstore.com to see if I can get an exchange or something.

I've been painting minis for a hot minute now and I've never run into these kinds of problems with primer before. I'm bummed. I totally wanted to paint today and now I'm sitting in my chair not sure what to do.

Some genius out there created miniature rules for use with the Star Wars Galactic Heroes toy line! From what I can see it appears to be kid orientated too. I'm so going to go buy them, play the game with my boy and do up a battle report :)

Friday, May 8, 2009

He sees you painting, priming, modeling, basing, playing...(I'm running out of ing's here).

It was only a matter of time until he wanted to play too.

My little boy recently found my stash of D&D miniatures. I had bought them not to play a miniatures game with (I think Wizards minis rules stink) but to play D&D with. As fourth edition hit the shelves I got the idea to do the introductory module all in 3-D. I made a card stock dungeon (an endeavor I don't recommend to anyone), bought all the minis separately to coincide with the encounters in the adventure. I spent a month on this project and guess what...

We never frigging played it!

So here I am with a ton of miniatures for a crappy mini system, an adventure that never got used and a ton off pretty looking card stock. What is a gamer to do? Ebay it? Use it kindle a fire? Toss it out with all the other failed games filing this under the "Well it was a good idea but..." file?

My boy had a better idea.

"Daddy I want to play. Can we play with your miniatures?"

How could I say no.

So we set up a dungeon, grabbing baddies and making a final room with a Green Dragon in it. I got him to play a very simple game too. He was the band of heroes and I was the dungeon monsters. We rolled a D6 for movement. When you move next to a monster we did contested die rolls with a D20 with the higher roller winning. We had a blast.As time goes on it will be cool to add more rules to the mix... pluses to hit, chances to dodge, multiple wounds etc... and I know one day he'll grow out of the little game he used to play with daddy and start playing Warhammer 40k Twelfth Edition or whatever. But I think the best game I will ever play with him is the one we made up together.

Show me your War Face!!!

The Dungeon

My boy got the idea to set up a secret room with a monster inside guarding treasure. You can imagine my pride :)

The Dreaded Green Dragon!!!

Playing the Game (I love the look on his face).

If you got kids I totally recommend and encourage you to do this with them. We had such a good time and yes I lost... fair and square. Good game My Boy!

(This blog is dedicated to the man who showed me games when I was a boy. Things are truly cyclic. Thanks Uncle Dave... we love you!)